When my twin sister and I were very sick with the measles, aged six, it didn’t even occur to me that a home visit from the doctor was anything less than our due. I bet it occurred to my parents though. Having grown up in a world without the NHS, I bet they were grateful that they didn’t have to think about how to pay the doctor for his trouble, or for the medicines he left that helped relieve our symptoms and reduce the fever that was undoubtedly causing them concern.

Thinking about how to respond to ISIS/IS, and in view of the perilous realities of Iraq and Syria, have we tended to ignore the increasing tensions in Palestine and the relationship between all these? Regional commentator and Ekklesia associate Dr Harry Hagopian argues that ISIS cannot be dealt with by brute force and must be countered by political solutions that re-enfranchise the peoples of the region.

In his latest podcast for the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, Ekklesia associate and regional adviser/expert Dr Harry Hagopian looks at the on-going fight to contain and repel IS/ISIS and the pressure on the borders of Iraq, Syria and Turkey. He also updates on moves to bring stability to Libya.

'Timor mortis conturbat me' – the fear of death disturbs me. These words, from the liturgy of the Roman Catholic church, first became a literary device in medieval times, bracketing human follies and fears within the ambit of our common mortality.